Feeding Your Demons®: Level One

Description

Feeding Your Demons®: Level One (FYD I) is the first course in a three-part Online Training Series. In this level, Lama Tsultrim Allione (the developer of Feeding Your Demons®) teaches the five steps of FYD in depth, with lectures, demonstrations, guided meditations and assignments. She also teaches the history and philosophical roots of the practice, specific therapeutic applications of FYD, and an introduction to Hydra complexes, with a special teaching on Art & FYD Practice from Dorje Lopön Chandra Easton. With five hours of exclusive video content, audio downloads, live Q&A sessions, interactive discussion forums, and worksheets, this program is an ideal way to immerse yourself in this profound path of self-transformation from your own home.

Feeding Your Demons® is an accessible and effective approach for dealing with negative emotions, addictions, fears, trauma, and self-defeating patterns. Based on the ancient Tibetan Buddhist practice of Chöd, FYD reverses the paradigm of fighting with our demons, instead prompting us to investigate their causes and feed these fragmented aspects of our psyche with love and compassion. By releasing the pent-up energy trapped in these internal conflicts, we can effectively heal and transform them into allies in our life.

Inspired by the ancient Tibetan practice of Chöd, developed by the 11th century Buddhist yogini Machig Labdrön, FYD offers a profound path of self-transformation by effectively adapting ancient principles for a modern secular audience. By feeding love and compassion to the shadow aspects of our consciousness, we reverse the conventional paradigm of fighting with our demons and allow our psyche to move from polarization toward integration.

Please note that FYD Online is NOT a replacement for the Kapala Training Program, and does not count towards accomplishment of the Magyu Lineage Program. However, both programs do result in the opportunity for certification as a FYD Facilitator or FYD Psychotherapist. This course is intended for those who wish to solely focus on FYD training, including anybody who doesn’t necessarily wish to engage in overtly “Buddhist” spiritual practices.

What are Demons?

Our demons are neglected aspects of our own psyche, relegated to the dark recesses of our minds, which have no independent existence outside of our experience of them. Yet even in modern society we engage with our personal demons as though they were independently real. Our demons of disease, addiction, and anxiety are often personified and projected as an external evil. We have veterans fighting their PTSD, cancer patients battling their illnesses, alcoholics struggling with their addictions – yet this adversarial approach only further disintegrates our psyche in an attempt to disassociate from our shadow.

We also regularly experience and can identify societal demons such as racism, sexism, homophobia, and other forms of prejudice, but we seldom work with these energies directly, and may ignore our own personal relationships with oppression and privilege. By working with our neuroses through FYD, we can transform the pent-up energy invested in our demon complexes into allies, aiding us on our path towards individuation and liberation.

Who Should Practice FYD?

Feeding Your Demons® has benefitted thousands worldwide, with practitioners from every walk of life on five continents. The work transcends spiritual constructs, serving as a meaningful tool for anybody, regardless of religious affiliation or personal philosophy. If you have suffered with anxiety, depression, addiction, trauma, illness, fear, eating disorders, self-hatred, grief, anger issues, prejudice, or any other form of internal conflict and suffering, then you can benefit from Feeding Your Demons®.
The Online Learning Revolution

For the first time, we are thrilled to be offering a comprehensive FYD Online training program for those who wish to begin or deepen their relationship with Feeding Your Demons®. With our community spanning five continents, we know how difficult it can be to attend regular retreats. Time, money, and distance can all be tremendously prohibitive, but in our era of space-age technology, do they really need to be? At Tara Mandala, we believe that teachings should be available to all, regardless of location or financial ability, so we developed Tara Mandala Online – an interactive online learning platform featuring authentic Dharma teachings and effective tools for self-transformation.

The FYD Online Program is revolutionary for the Tara Mandala community. Feeding Your Demons® is among the most important and effective techniques for self-healing in the world. At this time, when internal and external conflicts have reached a fever pitch in modern society, the approach of feeding instead of fighting our demons is invaluable. The kinds of transformations that occur through Demon Work are life-changing, and we sincerely want this material to be available to everybody. Through the three levels of coursework, participants will learn the history, theory, and practice of FYD:

FYD 1 covers the history, practice, and daily integration of the five-step process. With guided exercises and demon feedings, participants will become acquainted with their own shadow through investigation of various types of personal and societal demons. An introduction to simple sitting meditation is also provided.
FYD 2 will further explore in-depth demon work, Extended Ally Work, body mapping, family lineage demons, and partner work.
FYD 3 is the Facilitator Training Program, available to all FYD students who have completed FYD 1 and FYD 2. Facilitator certification is granted to those who pass their personal evaluations upon completion of this program.
Becoming a Certified Facilitator

FYD Facilitator and Psychotherapist Certification is accomplished two ways: through the Kapala Training Program and through the Feeding Your Demons® Online Training Program. These programs are not the same, with the former focusing on the Buddhist lineage of Machig Labdrön, and the latter focusing solely on Feeding Your Demons® from a secular perspective.

With FYD Online you can work towards Facilitator certification from the comfort of your own home, making it the perfect option for those who are too busy to attend onsite retreats and trainings. It is also ideal for those who wish to avoid the religious connotations of the Kapala Training Program. After completing Feeding Your Demons® I & II, participants are welcome to enroll in Feeding Your Demons® III: Facilitator Training. Upon completion, those who wish to become a Facilitator must submit their Demon Tracking Forms for review and pass an oral exam conducted by Lama Tsultrim or an authorized examiner. Please note that you may be required to take this exam in person.

Becoming a Certified FYD Psychotherapist

Licensed psychotherapists who wish to incorporate FYD into their clinical practice are certified to do so upon completion of FYD III, and may take their exam via video conferencing (i.e. Skype or FaceTime). All FYD Facilitators and Psychotherapists must submit their required completed Demon Feeding forms as well as all additional coursework.

Financial Aid

Scholarships and payment plans are available. If you cannot afford to enroll in the FYD Training Program, please email support@taramandala.org. Nobody will be turned away for lack of funds.

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Mission Statement

Tara Mandala’s mission is to offer both solo and group practice, study, and retreat inspired by and anchored in authentic lineages of Vajrayana Buddhism, nurturing a complete path to ultimate realization as well as exploring the interface between Buddhist teachings … More→